Providence Swedish caregivers Jason Goldman, M.D., a clinical research physician, and RN Nicole Roehrig, a clinical nurse leader in pediatrics, were among the awardees at the inaugural event.
Though there wasn’t a cape in sight, there were many heroes in the house on July 13 at a downtown Seattle hotel for the inaugural award ceremony of the Puget Sound Business Journal’s (PSBJ’s) Health Care Heroes Awards.
This year, the PSBJ launched an award to publicly recognize the critical role healthcare workers and first responders play in our society and highlight their many contributions before and during the COVID pandemic and as we emerge from it. Nominated by their directors and supervisors, the group includes Registered Nurses, physicians, researchers, emergency responders and a hospital volunteer, just to name a few.
Among the recipients were two Providence Swedish caregivers: Jason Goldman, M.D. a clinical researcher and physician specializing in infectious disease and transplant medicine at Providence Swedish, and RN Nicole Roehrig, a clinical nurse leader in pediatrics at Providence Swedish.
Providence Swedish awardees and leaders at July 13's PSBJ Health Care Hero Awards. From left: Heather Martin, director of quality, Renee Rassilyer-Bomers, chief nursing officer, RN Nicole Roehrig, a Health Care Hero awardee, Elizabeth Wako, M.D., interim president and CEO of Swedish Health Services and Health Care Hero awardee Dr. Jason Goldman.
“Everyone in health care is a hero right now,” said Dr. Goldman, who led a study that has been seminal to our understanding of Long COVID. “I was just back from parental leave when the pandemic started; it showed up on our doorstep as one of the epicenters in the U.S.”
Dr. Goldman credited Providence Swedish leadership for their strength and foresight during COVID, particularly in supporting the development of a clinical trial at the warp speed of 48 hours.
“We understood that with this new, unknown disease, research was treatment,” he said. “We really banded together in a very dark time.”
RN Nicole Roehrig, a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit clinical nurse specialist, shared her passion for pediatric patients as well as supporting caregivers, especially through crises like last year’s surge of respiratory syncytial virus or RSV.
“During RSV especially, my main role was to support staff, to be the ‘nurses’ nurse’,” she said. “I think being in the military helped me prepare for situations of need and crises and be able to respond in a tactful and effective way.”
Nicole, who is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, also credited her grandparents—who were both healthcare workers—as inspirations for her work.
“We congratulate all the nominees and winners of PSBJ’s Health Care Heroes Awards,” said Elizabeth Wako, M.D., interim president and CEO of Swedish Health Services. “We’re especially proud of our winners from Providence Swedish. Their work is exemplary and representative of Providence Swedish’s commitment to excellence and the highest levels of care for every one of our patients.”
About Providence Swedish
Providence Swedish has served the Puget Sound region since the first Providence hospital opened in Seattle in 1877 and the first Swedish hospital opened in 1910. The two organizations affiliated in 2012 and today comprise the largest health care delivery system in Western Washington, with 22,000 caregivers, eight hospitals and 244 clinics. A not-for-profit family of organizations, Providence Swedish provides more than $406 million in community benefit in the Puget Sound Region each year. The health system offers a comprehensive range of services and specialty and subspecialty care in a number of clinical areas, including cancer care, cardiovascular health, neurosciences, orthopedics, digestive health and women’s and children’s care.
